Whenever Tom Jones belted out his ‘Delilah’ hit on the radio back in the day, my mum would go misty-eyed. She’d sing along to the catchy chorus as she worked through household chores, probably never dwelling too much on the rest of the words. Jones’ delivery is powerful and dramatic enough but it tells the story of a woman murdered by her jealous partner.

Last week, the Welsh Rugby Union finally put a stop to any renditions of ‘Delilah’ by choirs in international matches at the Principality Stadium. It’s long been a rallying call for fans but the official message is that the song has had its day. The sport is currently embroiled in enough issues, from racism to misogyny. However, the ban has divided opinion across Wales.

The ‘Delilah’ issue got me thinking about Robin Hood – not that he’s been banned from our city – or, more precisely, about the song ‘Robin Hood’. As ‘Delilah’ gave voice to 70,000 Welsh fans coming together to support their team, our local Nottingham hero used to get a run-out every Forest home game. When the Reds emerged from the tunnel, the City Ground would sing along to the loud-speaker simple lyrics.

Robin Hood, Robin Hood
Riding through the glen
Robin Hood, Robin Hood
With his band of men
Feared by the bad
Loved by the good
Robin Hood, Robin Hood, Robin Hood.

All wholesome stuff. Robin sorts good from bad and helps establish a fairer, more caring society. The song became popular as the theme-tune to a TV series. Called ‘The Adventures of Robin Hood’, it was my ‘go-to’ programme as a boy. Forest and the famous outlaw became one and the same thing in my fertile imagination. The Reds had right on their side! They would fight for justice. Pretty high standards for a football club.

The song was written by an American composer and the shows scripted by American writers who had been blacklisted in their own country for being socialist sympathisers. No home-grown talent there, then, and little did I know of this at the time. I did realise, though, that words mattered. The Robin Hood theme tune that echoed around the City Ground was simple, rousing and connected the team to the city and its history.

To sing your team onto the pitch is a heartfelt experience for fans. It’s wrapped up in identity, community, a collective sharing and tradition. It’s an anthem. Liverpool remind themselves that ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ when their team appears at Anfield. First sung in the sixties, it became particularly poignant following the Hillsborough disaster and has remained so since.

West Ham will be forever blowing bubbles – literally at home games! – and have been doing to since the 1920s. The reasons for their choice of song are convoluted but it’s stuck. Leeds United, more straightforwardly, have ‘Leeds, Leeds, Leeds!’, officially ‘Marching On Together’, containing vocals by players and fans from their 1972 FA Cup appearance. Gillingham FC – ‘The Gills’ – bless them, have adopted a song from the playbook of Englebert Humperdinck. His 1967 ‘The Last Waltz’ hardly sounds like a rallying call but that’s what you’ll hear resonate around their ground.

An even weirder choice of club anthem is – or was – that of Stoke City: ‘Delilah’! It’s something of a mystery as to quite why their fans warmed to it but some say it was a hangover from a rock concert version at their old Victoria Ground in the 70s which mutated into the ‘official’ club song. That said, it’s no longer played over the tannoy at bet365 Stadium (what a name for a ground!) and the stadium bar has been renamed
‘Ricardo’s’ but it will take time for it to disappear from the terraces. Attachments, once taken-up, are hard to break.

Which brings us back to Forest and … ‘Mull Of Kintyre’. The season is 1977-78, Forest are set to win the First Division championship and Paul McCartney and Wings’ song is the hit of the year. Inspired by its success, the Reds’ fans take the pop-song and give it a twist, transposing the location from Scotland to Nottingham. Same tune, new words: the advent of an anthem from the terraces, a gift from the supporters to the club!

City Ground
Oh mist rolling in from the Trent
My desire is always to be here
City Ground.

Other verses chart the glory days and journeys up and down the country. The words travel well!

Far have I travelled and much have I seen
Goodison, Anfield are places I’ve been
Maine Road, Old Trafford, still echo to the sound
Of the boys in the red from the City Ground.

The club first decided to pump the song out prior to their game against Yeovil Town in 2008 when they won promotion back into the Championship. The bagpipes have signalled the collective voice of the Forest faithful ever since. Robin Hood had his day and now the words to Kintyre are standing the test of time. As ‘Delilah’ (rightly) has been faded out of sports stadiums, the City Ground anthem has increased in volume over the past two seasons, home and away. Singing towards success or not, match day in full voice sends a tingle down the spine as reference to the past fortifies the present.

*Article provided by Stephen Parker (Nottingham Forest Correspondent).

*Main image @NFFC Nottingham Forest fans ahead of their Mull of Kintyre rendition against Leeds.